Methodology:

14-question survey sent via e-mail providing participants five days to respond.

Survey was sent to more than 11,000 subscribers of PrecisionAg eNews.

An invite to participate was also posted on PrecisionAg’s Facebook page.

Summary:

Overall, these findings provide valuable directional data that marketers and information providers should carefully consider when communicating with this increasingly connected audience. 198 respondents participated in this survey. Of those, 89 respondents supplied us their e-mail address requesting that we send them this Executive Summary. Here are the key findings from the survey:

ABOUT YOU

Respondents identified themselves as:

“Grower” – 35%

“Retail Agronomist/Consultant” – 25%

“Manufacturer” – 17%

The average age of respondents was 44.

64% said they are “always involved” with their operation’s precision agriculture activities, while another 20% are “very involved.”

INTERNET | MOBILE

Availability of high-speed Internet access

Good to very good –83%

Barely acceptable – 11%

Quality of high-speed Internet

Good to very good – 76%

Barely acceptable – 18%

Mobile devices used for precision ag purposes.

iPad – 63% and iPhone – 54%

Android smartphone 36% and Android tablet 10%.

Mobile Devices vs Laptop/Desktop computers

48% said they use their mobile device(s) less than their laptop/desktop computer for precision agriculture work.

21% use their mobile device(s) more than their personal computers for precision agriculture-related jobs

31% use them about the same.

Locations:

In the field – 83%

In the cab – 62%.

At home – 51%

In the office – 49%.

40% said they typically spend 1-5 hours per week using their mobile device(s) for precision ag-related work. Another 31% said they spend 6-10 hours/week using them.

Most common tasks included mapping, scouting and soil sampling/testing

When asked how they use their mobile device(s) for precision ag purposes, respondents provided a wide range of answers. Most common tasks included mapping, scouting and soil sampling/testing. Precision Planting’s FieldView app for iPad that connects to the 20/20 Seed Sense display was also mentioned several times.

APPS | OTHER TECHNOLOGIES

Connected Farm was the most used precision ag-related mobile app – 31%.